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On its best days, WSSC Water, the largest water and sewer utility in Maryland, seamlessly serves 2 million residents in Prince George鈥檚 and Montgomery counties.
But it鈥檚 also a sprawling organization with 1,700 employees that receives very little public scrutiny. The leaders of the two counties appoint WSSC鈥檚 governing commission, which in turn hires and oversees its general manager, but the lines of authority and accountability are often blurred. Some policies and operational procedures are set by state government, rather than the counties WSSC serves. And the agency鈥檚 gleaming headquarters overlooking Interstate 95 in Laurel is often the object of wonder and resentment in the quotidian world of local government.
鈥淭his is the sewer department, y鈥檃ll,鈥� the late Prince George鈥檚 County Executive Wayne Curry (D) once said in exasperation. 鈥淭hey only need a garage with a couple of trucks out back.鈥�
Despite 鈥� or maybe because of 鈥� its size and unique status in Maryland public service, WSSC has for decades been the source of political battles, territorial disputes, shakedowns and assorted other power plays. A new round of internal dissension has burst into the open only recently.
Less than two months after learning that her contract wouldn鈥檛 be renewed 鈥� a move that was not officially disclosed for a month and still hasn鈥檛 been explained by the five commissioners who made the decision 鈥� WSSC Water CEO and General Manager Carla Reid is seeking the ouster of two of the commissioners who sealed her fate.
In an extraordinary聽聽to Prince George鈥檚 County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D), Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) and leaders of the two county councils, Reid warns that the utility is lurching toward a 鈥渃risis鈥� in governance. The existence of the letter was聽聽Wednesday evening by The Washington Post.
鈥淭here are few things in life more important than water,鈥� Reid wrote. 鈥淎nd as such, it is imperative that the governance structure and the individuals appointed to governance positions at the water utility have the integrity and skills to govern and lead appropriately and effectively.鈥�
Reid complains in the letter that a month after voting in June not to renew her contract, which runs out at the end of the year, WSSC commissioners voted to drastically curtail her day-to-day powers. And she singles out two commissioners 鈥� Keith Bell of Prince George鈥檚 County and T. Eloise Foster of Montgomery County 鈥� for improperly interfering in the agency鈥檚 operations.
鈥淭heir conduct has created serious ethical and governance issues for the Commission,鈥� Reid wrote.
Under WSSC鈥檚 governing structure, the two county executives each appoint three members of the commission, who are confirmed by their county councils and serve four-year terms. A county executive can seek a WSSC commissioner鈥檚 resignation, but if the commissioner refuses to resign, there is a cumbersome process involving a public hearing before the county council to see whether the commissioner should be removed from office.
Last week, two days after Reid wrote her letter to Alsobrooks and Elrich, Alsobrooks鈥� appointment liaison, Miriam Brewer, wrote to Bell, telling him the county government was seeking his removal. An Alsobrooks spokesperson, Anthony McAuliffe, said the administration had sought his resignation in July, and Brewer鈥檚 letter suggests Bell hasn鈥檛 cooperated with county officials who have tried to discuss the matter with him.
鈥淭his decision was not easy and was made after a thorough evaluation of your behavior and performance as chair and member of the WSSC,鈥� Brewer wrote Bell. 鈥淎 central concern was your routine encroachment from your role of governance to attempting to dictate the organization鈥檚 daily operations.鈥�
Through WSSC spokesperson Chuck Brown, the agency鈥檚 commissioners declined to comment on Reid鈥檚 letter. But Bell, an administrative law judge with the federal government, told the Post and WUSA9 this week that he considered Brewer鈥檚 letter a 鈥渒nee-jerk reaction鈥� to Reid鈥檚 missive.
Elrich鈥檚 office declined to comment publicly, but administration officials have signaled that they have no intention of seeking Foster鈥檚 dismissal and want to stay out of the dispute between Reid and the commissioners. Foster is the former secretary of the Maryland Department of Budget and Management.
In her letter to Elrich and Alsobrooks, Reid, who has been WSSC general manager since 2016, asserts that the commissioners cast their decision to strip her of certain powers, especially her ability to hire and fire top staffers, as part of the 鈥渘ormal鈥� transition process as the agency seeks a new leader.
鈥淏ut there is nothing 鈥榥ormal鈥� about this decision and it has never occurred in the many General Manager transitions that have taken place,鈥� she writes. 鈥淢oreover, at no time prior to removing my authority on personnel matters, did any Commissioner have the courtesy to communicate with me regarding a transition or to put me on notice that there would be a change to my delegated authority.鈥�
Reid then goes deeper: 鈥淭here were many irregular events which preceded this action, and as the appointing authorities for the board of Commissioners, you need to be aware of them so you can take corrective action,鈥� she writes.
Internal probes
Much of the current stress within the WSSC stems from the implementation of a new and costly billing system for ratepayers known as Project Cornerstone. Earlier this year, the WSSC commissioners voted to hire an independent investigator to probe how the billing system contract was procured in 2017, why the implementation cost has tripled from $40 million to $120 million, and various problems with the system. The commission awarded the contract to the software firm Oracle, without going through a competitive bidding process.
Several other ethical and managerial controversies at the water utility have flared in recent months.
One WSSC commissioner from Prince George鈥檚, Christopher Lawson, resigned from the commission earlier this year after a fellow commissioner filed an ethics complaint against him because he had ties to an agency contractor. Alsobrooks has yet to nominate a replacement for Lawson on the WSSC, so there is a vacancy on the commission. Lawson suggested at the time that he was targeted by anonymous accusers and said Reid also was being hit with accusations of wrongdoing that appeared in anonymous emails.
In her letter to Alsobrooks and Elrich, Reid asserts that in 2021, Bell and Foster resisted her attempts to remove a top IT official at the agency, Stacey Brown Chisholm. Reid suggests she wanted to fire Chisholm because Chisholm had steered work with agency contractors to friends and acquaintances, but says she ultimately decided to keep Chisholm in her role, in part, to placate the two commissioners. Chisholm maintains that those hires were encouraged by one of her supervisors and not her. Still, on June 14, the WSSC鈥檚 Board of Ethics found that Chisholm had in fact violated WSSC ethics rules and wrote: 鈥溾�hese actions could very well undermine the level of public confidence in the integrity of the Commission if widely known.鈥�
One day later, the commission voted not to renew Reid鈥檚 contract.
Reid was, however, successful in firing a close associate of Chisholm鈥檚 who worked in a managerial role at the agency, Damion Lampley, who had been critical of Project Cornerstone during his time at WSSC. Lampley filed a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the WSSC in late June, three weeks after being terminated. In a letter to WSSC officials informing them of Lampley鈥檚 intention to sue, his attorney, Mark Muyiwa Sobo, wrote, 鈥淯nfortunately for WSSC Water, Ms. Reid has acted recklessly in terminating Mr. Lampley.鈥�
Brown, WSSC鈥檚 spokesperson, said the agency could not discuss Reid鈥檚 criticisms of Lampley and Chisholm because they were personnel matters. But within days of Reid鈥檚 letter last week to Elrich and Alsobrooks seeking the dismissal of Bell and Foster and WSSC commissioners, Chisholm and Lampley wrote to the same set of local officials, defending themselves and criticizing Reid鈥檚 tenure.
Chisholm鈥檚 letter opens with some of the exact same language Reid uses in hers, explaining to the officials why she is 鈥渢aking the extraordinary step of writing to you.鈥� She goes on to accuse Reid of harassing her during her time at WSSC, even as she was struggling to recover from breast cancer and chemotherapy, and says the general manager pushed her own associates for key positions.
鈥淢y goal for writing this letter was for the truth could be known,鈥� Chisholm writes. 鈥淕eneral Manager Reid sending her letter to everyone in the Commission was an attempt to discredit me and make it impossible for me to work at WSSC Water. I thought I was doing the right thing calling out my concerns about corruption, but I see that I stepped into a political game that I was not equipped to play.鈥�
In an email to the county officials, Lampley lays out a timeline of his criticisms of Project Cornerstone and his allegations of harassment by Reid, saying the assertions in Reid鈥檚 letter 鈥渁re so far from the truth.鈥�
鈥淐arla has continued to attack my character and I felt compelled to write this letter to shed more light on what Carla refuses to address as the crux of the matter,鈥� he says, concluding his email with direct comments to Brewer, the appointments officer in Prince George鈥檚 County government, Tara Jackson, Prince George鈥檚 County鈥檚 chief administrative officer, and Joy Russell, Alsobrooks鈥� chief of staff.
鈥淛oy, Tara, and Miriam, I would encourage you to tell your buddy to stop with the antics, playing victim, and bow out gracefully,鈥� he writes, referring to Reid.
In early June, before Reid鈥檚 contract was not renewed, WUSA9聽聽at WSSC. It included certain ratepayers talking about their inability to get adequate answers about their bills from the utility, and it anonymously quoted two whistleblowers within the agency talking about Project Cornerstone and alleged corruption at WSSC.
Two days after the closed-door commission meeting on June 15 that led to Reid being informed her contract was not being renewed, the TV station聽聽about the personnel move, implying that Reid鈥檚 impending departure was due to the uproar over the billing system. Reid acknowledged the development in a statement to WUSA9, but the commission itself did not announce its vote until a month later, at its regular July meeting. The commissioners did not say why Reid wasn鈥檛 being retained.
In late June, Jackson, the Prince George鈥檚 County chief administrative officer, and her counterpart in Montgomery County, Richard Madaleno, wrote a letter to WSSC Water Commission Chair Fausto Bayonet, expressing concerns over both the management and outside investigation of Project Cornerstone and the media leaks about dysfunction at the highest echelons of the agency.
鈥淲e consider the history of media leaks over the past several months alarming,鈥� Madaleno and Jackson wrote. 鈥淭he timing and substance of the leaked information attributed to confidential sources demonstrates that the leaks must be emanating from the ranks of senior leadership. Such conduct is reflective of an organization in crisis and is also indicative of a lack of commitment to confidentiality and ethical leadership. Both of these factors will imperil the integrity of the external investigation.鈥�
But the leaks appear to be continuing: At midday Tuesday, following a tip about its existence, Maryland Matters asked the WSSC communications office to provide a copy of Reid鈥檚 Aug. 3 letter to the county officials. After being provided with the letter, Maryland Matters asked Brown, the agency spokesperson, whether any of the commissioners would be willing to comment. That request from Brown, submitted to the commissioners in writing, was quickly declined. But within minutes, unsolicited, Maryland Matters received emails and documents from Chisholm and Lampley, as well as documents and links to articles from anonymous sources via unconventional email addresses.
鈥榃e all need to get a handle on what is transpiring鈥�
It seems inevitable that the latest controversies at WSSC Water will invite additional scrutiny from the Montgomery and Prince George鈥檚 county governments and from state lawmakers who represent the two counties. But it may also reopen the question of the utility鈥檚 complicated management structure.
In her letter to county leaders, Reid suggested that the counties must explore ways of improving management and accountability at the agency and may also want to look at overhauling the governing arrangements.
鈥淚n the long term, a major examination of the WSSC Water governance system is needed to avoid a recurrence of these issues in the future,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淲hile WSSC Water is a strong organization, staffed with highly competent professionals, this agency is at risk from the conduct of Commissioners who do not respect ethical and governance boundaries. This must be repaired now.鈥�
State Sen. Ben Kramer (D-Montgomery), who has passed legislation dealing with the structure of WSSC 鈥� including a measure that created an independent inspector general鈥檚 office within the agency 鈥� said Thursday 鈥渋t鈥檚 a little too soon鈥� to be discussing possible legislative remedies for the current dysfunction.
鈥淲e all need to get a handle on what is transpiring,鈥� he said. 鈥淐learly all the allegations from both sides are concerning, and we need to get beyond the he-said, she-said.鈥� Kramer said he suspects 鈥渢here is some truth on both sides here.鈥�
WSSC Water is about to hire a search firm to help commissioners find a replacement for Reid. The goal is to have a new general manager in place on Jan. 1.
Complicating any broader discussions about the future of the agency, Kramer conceded, is the very nature of its structure. The fact that two counties have a say over its future, he said, 鈥渁dds to the challenge.鈥�
Local officials can鈥檛 take comfort in the knowledge that WSSC has survived managerial strife before, Kramer said.
鈥淭his is mind-blowing and it鈥檚 government at its worst,鈥� he said.
